Cruising with Jane McDonald

Jane McDonald travels on the Rhine from Germany and through France and Switzerland. Along the way, she visits the world's best Christmas markets and creates her very own Christmas on board a truly magical festive cruise.

A look back at the best bits, the never-seen-before out-takes and bizarre moments from the past four series of Cruising with Jane McDonald. Plus, a version of the festive classic The 12 Days of Christmas is sung by carollers from Jane's home town of Wakefield.

The singer embarks on a Christmas tour of Norway by cruise ship, beginning her journey in Bergen, where she visits the world's largest gingerbread city. She meets a swimming Santa on a trip to Scandinavia's biggest natural aquarium, before venturing deeper into the Arctic circle to sample mead at a traditional Viking midwinter festival in a replica of a longhouse. Finally, she takes a snowmobile ride across the Russian border.

Jane heads to Miami where she boards a 4,300 capacity 'mega-cruiser'. She and her fellow passengers stop off in Nassau in the Bahamas before heading to the island of St Martin where she meets a host of sharks.

Joined by just six other passengers on what is easily her smallest ever cruise, Jane enjoys unseasonably good weather as she visits the puffin-packed Treshnish Islands, and Fingal's Cave on Staffa, which inspired Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture.

On her first ever river cruise, Jane heads to Budapest's Szechenyi Baths, before a visit to the moving World War II memorial, Shoes on the Danube Bank. Then, after a waltz and a wurst, Jane makes her way to her final stop of Passau, Southern Bavaria.

Jane takes her first Scandi-cruise aboard the Viking Sky, visiting Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm, and doing everything from meeting cats to becoming the fifth member of ABBA.

Jane stops off at the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, catches the Tour de France in Marseilles and hits the Italian Riviera in Genoa.

Jane takes a river cruise down the Rhone from Lyon to Arles in Provence. She visits a food market, enjoys the glorious scenery, tries wine-tasting and takes a hot air balloon ride.

Jane heads to the Golden State, boarding a 3,000 berth cruise liner in Los Angeles which plots a course for San Francisco. On board, she meets former Dallas star Linda Gray, attends a wedding, and has an all-over massage in which her body is coated in chocolate.

From Reykjavik, Jane boards the former ferry Ocean Diamond for a voyage around Iceland's rugged shorelines. Highlights include hot geysers, the aurora borealis, whale watching, a dip in a lagoon, a visit to a puffin rescue centre and joining in a rettir (rounding up sheep from the mountains).

Starting off in Ho Chi Minh City, Jane samples the sights, sounds and sumptuous cuisine of Vietnam, before setting sail up the Mekong to Cambodia where she visits a floating market before ending up at Ankor Wat, one of the oldest religious monuments on Earth.

Jane finds herself centre stage at the Sydney Opera House, before embarking on a trip that takes her from Australia to New Zealand via Tasmania. Her first glimce of NewZealand is the spectacular Milford Sound, before she stops in Dunedin to experience its Scottish Heritage.

Jane continues her cruise to the North Island, including a trip to capital city Wellington, quad-biking 900m above sea level, meeting a traditional Maori tribe and a helicopter tour over Auckland, before finally heading back to Australia to climb all 1,438 steps of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Jane is sailing around South America in style aboard a luxury ship. Starting in Valparaiso, Jane joins a street art tour before beginning her journey south along the Chilean coast. She visits Patagonia and the Falklands before learning how to dance the tango.

Jane heads off to uncover the mysteries of the Mediterranean on an island-hopping tour of Greece, including a segway through Athens, champagne in Mykonos, and the stunning sunsets of Santorini.

Jane heads to Portugal for a luxury trip down the river Douro. In Porto, she discovers the roots of a similarly named fortified wine before boarding the stunning ship and setting sail down the Douro. The cruise takes her to the architectural wonder of Lamego, Vila Real and the homes of Mateus Rose. She even manages a trip to Spain to visit Salamanca.

In Kolkata, Jane visits the colourful chaos amid the largest flower market in Asia before setting sail on the Ganges River. Stop-offs include the temple of Kalna, and Murshidabad where she explores the grand palaces of the city and discovers a religion close to her heart, before going off the beaten track to see some local artisans at work.

Jane uncovers a little-known cruise route in the Great Lakes of America and Canada, where she jet-boats across the perilous rapids outside Montreal.

Jane enjoys new adventures in the Mediterranean, taking in a vintage car tour of Rome, the £8k-per-night hotels of Monaco, and the tapas of Barcelona's world-famous La Boqueria food market.

Starting in photogenic Budapest, Jane rides a sumptuous steam train built at the peak of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, boards a luxury river ship to the blossoming post-communist cities of Bratislava and Belgrade, and visits Dracula's castle.

The singer returns to embark on more voyages around the world, beginning with the first of two programmes charting a trip to the Caribbean aboard a new luxury liner. The first leg takes her south-east from Fort Lauderdale in Florida toward the private resort of Princess Cays on the island of Eleuthera, and from there she continues along to the Virgin Isles and St Thomas, ending on the island of St Martin.

The singer concludes her journey around the Caribbean, visiting Grand Cayman for a spot of horse-riding along the beach. She then heads to Roatan off the coast of Honduras, discovering the wonders of the deep aboard a submarine, before finishing her trip on the Mexican island of Cozumel, where she parties the night away at the colourful local carnival.

Jane books a four-berth private luxury river cruiser to travel along the Thames from Hampton Court to Henley-on-Thames to celebrate the 70th birthdays of her good friends Sue and Olwen. At Shepperton Lock, where they meet lock-keeper Steve Newman, who shares his 46 years of knowledge of with Jane, before heading for Windsor.